Grecian Pillow
by Rose Fortress
Summary: After taking hold of Greece's hand to comfort him during a nightmare, Japan decides that he can't let go of his hand just yet. The solution? Lie down next to Greece and use him as an impromptu pillow, of course! Greece/Japan aka Giripan.


Originally written for the Hetalia kink meme prompt "Greece/Japan - pillow fluff" that asked for cavity-inducing cuteness with Japan using Greece as a pillow.

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><p>It had taken longer than Japan had expected to make the black tea, so he wasn't too surprised when he returned from the kitchen with two cups of tea in hand only to find that Greece had fallen asleep in the meantime.<p>

He did feel mildly exasperated at first, as this brand of tea wasn't one he brewed daily and would likely be cold by the time Greece woke up, but he could never stay mad at Greece for long and it was even harder to do so when Pochi had curled up into an adorable ball of fluff by Greece's head that made him tempted to take a picture with his cell phone of this scene.

Japan set down the two cups on the kotatsu and kneeled down next to Greece, studying his sleeping face. Greece was already snoring gently, his right hand resting on his stomach and his left arm stretched out some distance away from his side. A few strands of hair were hanging over his face and Japan found himself automatically reaching out to brush them away.

Greece's head shifted slightly just before Japan's fingers could make contact with his hair, and Japan jerked them away hastily, his heart suddenly beating fast as if he had been caught doing something undignified.

It soon became clear, however, that Japan wasn't the cause of this disturbance in Greece's sleep. His entire body was shifting around now, waking up Pochi who gave a confused bark before trying to lick Greece's cheek comfortingly, and his lips were pressed together tightly as he tossed and turned his head about on the carpet.

Japan couldn't recall Greece ever having had a nightmare before, but it appeared that this was what was happening now. He bit his lip and wondered if he should try waking Greece up, when Greece's face contorted into a grimace and he made a sudden flailing motion with his right arm, his right hand clawing desperately at the carpet as if searching for something to cling to before he sank into the abyss of his dreams.

Without thinking, Japan shot his left hand out and grasped that panicking hand. Greece's hand was sweaty and trembling against his, but Japan stroked it as soothingly as he could while murmuring soft words to him and Greece's fingers slowly relaxed into his hold as his face smoothed back into his usual calm expression. A content-sounding sigh escaped his lips as they pulled up into a small smile.

Japan felt something warm bubble up in his chest as he examined the expression that Greece should be wearing all the time. He had never comforted someone like this before and now he couldn't help but wonder if Greece was dreaming about him at this very moment, cliché as it might be.

Pochi had curled back up by Greece's head and Japan gave an amused shake of his head at how his partner's sleepiness was apparently contagious. He was actually feeling a bit sleepy himself now...

He looked down at his left hand that was still gripping Greece's right one by the side of his body that was the farthest away from his actual sitting position. His arm was going to get tired soon if he kept on holding Greece's hand in this position.

Making up his mind with the rationalization that he would be a lousy boyfriend if he let Greece slip back into his nightmare, Japan adjusted his fingers so that they were tightly intertwined with Greece's instead of in a loose grip around his palm and carefully edged closer to Greece's side until their legs were almost touching.

Greece's left arm was still splayed out on the carpet, forming an inviting pillow of sorts. Reminding himself that he had slept in far more intimate positions with Greece before and that this was a special case, Japan slowly lowered his head until it was nestled on Greece's broad upper arm. It was surprisingly comfortable, and he let his left arm rest across Greece's chest as he curled up his right arm by his side and turned so that he was facing Greece.

His partner was still sleeping quite contentedly with no indication that he had been sweating and cringing just a few minutes before; Japan wondered what he was dreaming about now. According to Greece, his dreams were mainly surreal landscapes of painted skies, capricious seas, and bizarre fusions of mythological creatures, although Japan tended to make at least a cameo in them. These cameos always seemed to have him naked or scantily-clad for some reason, which Greece liked talking about in great detail.

Although Japan couldn't really say that his dreams were any better, what with their strange tendency to morph from innocent scenes into acid trips that would have put _Katamari Damacy_ to shame. He would never forget one particular dream he had that started out with him collecting peaches from a tree and dropping them into Greece's waiting arms and then segued into a sky race above the peach trees with him riding on the back of a huge mochi with angel wings and a chrysanthemum tattoo and Greece on the back of a giant butterfly-winged Corporal Cat, with Greece's clothes disappearing somewhere in the middle of their flight through an especially breezy cloud and his declaration that he was going to win this race and that Japan would _have_ to reward him then...

Japan found himself blinking his eyes back open sometime later, wondering just when he had fallen asleep. The lengthening of the shadows underneath the windows told him that it had been at least a couple of hours ago. A faint but still deeply ingrained sense of shame at having napped for so long washed over him and he began to sit back up, only to find that he was now pressed up against Greece's chest and held in place there by a pair of warm arms around his waist. Greece's eyes were still closed, but his mouth was curved up into a smile that couldn't have looked any more satisfied if he had just stolen Turkey's mask and had his cats use it as a plaything.

"Greece-san, I know you're not asleep," he said quietly but sternly.

Greece's eyes fluttered back open and his smile became sheepish. "You caught me."

Japan expertly untangled himself from Greece in spite of the latter's more reluctant movements, and spotted the two cups left on the kotatsu. "I made some black tea for the two of us," he said, grateful to have a topic that wasn't about how he had come to use Greece as a pillow in the first place. "Unfortunately, it's cold now."

"I can still taste it," Greece said, sitting back up with Pochi sniffing curiously at his bare feet.

"Tea doesn't taste good when it's cold, Greece-san," Japan said reprovingly, but nonetheless handed Greece one of the cups.

"We'll consider it my punishment for dozing off while you were busy making tea in the kitchen for us," Greece said with a measure of grace as he brought the teacup up to his lips. "You can go and make a hot cup of tea for yourself, if you want."

"I'm not _that_ unforgiving, Greece-san," Japan replied. "Besides, I'd like to sit here with you for a while."

"So that you can make sure I stay awake this time," Greece said with a smile as he sipped from his cup and kept his face relatively composed at the taste. "Though that was one very interesting dream I just had," he mused, his face becoming pensive.

"Oh?" Japan said before he could stop himself. He only seemed to remember his strange dreams when he was hovering on the edge of sleep, whereas Greece always seemed to be able to recall his own dreams in vivid detail that he could share with Japan in the morning or afternoon in the form of a narrative.

Greece nodded, taking a second sip of his tea and then setting it aside. "It was about me floating in the ocean on a sailboat with just the moon for company. The moon was a bright red color, which should have clued me into this dream not remaining peaceful for long, but at that moment I was just thinking that it looked pretty with that color, like a ruby or poppy."

"But then," he continued, his face growing dark, "the blue-black sky suddenly flashed the white color of Turkey's mask. And sure enough, rising from the depths of the sea, was Turkey's face attached to all seven heads of a snarling hydra."

Japan barely raised an eyebrow at that description. It was extremely common for Turkey to show up as some kind of monster in Greece's dreams, and this dream actually sounded normal so far compared to many of Greece's other dreams.

"I wouldn't have any of it, of course," Greece said. "I yelled at him that he could take his stupid mugs somewhere else, but he only laughed at me with all seven mouths of his and then lunged at me. That was when I really became afraid because his laughs began to sound like the demented cackles of a madman gone even madder and then his forked tail smashed through my boat and broke it into pieces, sending me plunging into the sea.

"The sea was so ice-cold that I seriously thought I was going to freeze in there long before I drowned. I remember completely losing it and just randomly flailing around in the desperate hope that a god would be watching and take pity on me."

Greece paused in his narrative and turned to look straight into Japan's eyes, and Japan felt both self-consciousness and warmth rush through him at the look he saw in them. "That was when I suddenly felt someone pull me up by the hand. He looked a lot like you if you had just emerged from an unfurled chrysanthemum a la _The Birth of Venus_ with his hair and skin still wet, and he drew me up on the large flower alongside of him. The chrysanthemum began gliding through the sky like a dove and we talked about things that would make you narrow your eyes at me even more than you're already doing," he pointed out with a smile. "He never let go of my hand throughout all this."

"Somewhere in the middle of this bonding, things began getting really weird," Greece continued in a wondering tone. "This fantastical scene suddenly turned into a highly realistic one where I was lying in this very same living room with you sleeping next to me with your head on my arm. I was surprised by this, but I decided that if my dream was going to give me a Japan who used me as a pillow, it would only be right for me to use him as a teddy bear in return. At least, I thought that was a dream too."

Japan cleared his throat and felt it necessary to give his own side of the story. "When I came back from the kitchen, I saw you tossing and turning in your sleep and wanted to comfort you, so I...took hold of your hand," he said, making a slight mimicking gesture with his left hand. "I was afraid to let go of it afterwards, so I lied down next to you and that was when I drifted off too."

Greece reached over and took Japan's right hand that hadn't felt the texture of Greece's palm as much as his left hand had. "Thank you," he said simply.

"It wasn't anything much, really," Japan insisted. "You looked so distressed during your nightmare that it would have been criminal not to do anything about it."

"Even so, it was my luck that you were there with me when it started. If you hadn't been there, I would have woken up with a desire to march on over to that Turk's house and get revenge on him, which I know you wouldn't have liked."

"If that is true, then I suppose I can't feel _too_ embarrassed about having used your arm as a pillow," Japan replied.

"You shouldn't feel embarrassed about it at all," Greece said, giving Japan's hand a light squeeze. "In fact, just to make sure that you don't feel embarrassed about this in the future, I give you explicit permission to use me as a pillow whenever you want."

Japan felt his cheeks redden and he replied a bit stiffly, "I assure you that I'm _not_ going to take advantage of this kind of permission very often, Greece-san."

It was only in the next pause and smile Greece gave him that Japan realized he had just indirectly accepted Greece's permission for future pillow hugs and that really, what _was_ he going to do other than accept it? He glanced away from Greece's face and his eyes fell on Pochi who wagged his tail and reminded him that he was helpless to resist cute things in general, even when they resulted in him assuming a compromising position.

"I'm thinking about making two new cups of black tea," Japan said, redirecting the topic of conversation to safer ground while still keeping his hand in Greece's. "Would you like to accompany me with the tea-making in the kitchen?"

"I would," Greece replied simply, standing up along with Japan and following him to the kitchen, their hands linked together as Pochi tagged along at their heels too.

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><p>Reviews and constructive criticism always make my day, so feel free to leave them if you have any!<p> 


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